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Using Marketing Attribution in a Complex Digital Era

Author:

Mark Stouse
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Episode

12

Using Marketing Attribution in a Complex Digital Era

Mark Stouse

CEO at Proof Analytics

Aurelien Mottier

CEO at Operatix

Marketing attribution is an essential part of any business, with long-term data helping to optimise spend while connecting the dots between strategies and growth. After all, it’s no secret that data-driven marketing plans that utilise reliable audience insights are the most successful.


However, the increasing rate at which the digital world of sales and marketing evolves can make it difficult to predict how best to target leads. A consumer’s path to purchase is no longer as linear as it used to be, making tangible marketing attribution software a key investment.


Our host CEO of Operatix Aurelien Mottier sat down with the CEO of Proof Analytics Mark Stouse to discuss using marketing attribution in the complex digital world. From understanding what this term means to common misconceptions, discover expert insights into marketing attribution in today’s episode of B2B Revenue Acceleration.



What is marketing attribution?


Marketing attribution is the process of measuring the touchpoints prospects encounter along their journey to purchase. The aim is to identify which strategies or channels were most influential in the conversion, as well as those that may not be worth further investment.


While the name may suggest otherwise, marketing attribution tools are not designed just to serve marketers. There are two other key personas that benefit from automated marketing attribution – the analyst and the business user.


“This is not about solving a marketing problem for marketing alone. We’re the bridge between these people – there are two different personas, the analyst and the business user.“


Mark Stouse, CEO of Proof Analytics



The analyst prefers to deep dive into the data and predictive analytics, while the business user much prefers clear-cut guidance as to how to optimise market investments. Mark compares the latter to a GPS-style system, giving the user a direction of where to go, short-cuts and any re-routes you need to take.


Businesses previously relied on human resources to track, understand and create a strategy based upon these analytics, making it not only a costly function, but a timely one. The problem was, by the time the answer was ready, it was no longer relevant to your decision.


Noticing a gap in the market, Mark Stouse and his team set out to create a fully optimized, fully automated marketing mix modelling software platform – and thus Proof Analytics was born. Predictive analytics allows businesses to streamline execution while visualising alternative methods and keep up with the changing market.



Marketing Attribution in a Complex Digital Era


The world of marketing is constantly evolving, and most of the impact is created by things beyond your control. What you can control, however, is how you respond and adapt to these changes. Mark compares this to a wave – you can’t control the wave, nor did you generate it, but you must learn to ride as best as possible.


Staying stagnant in your approach to marketing will never result in the success you want to achieve. Rather, understanding how the marketplace is changing as well as how these changes can affect strategies and spend is vital. The data produced by marketing attribution tools provides clarity about what continues to work well and areas that need improvement – or a complete overhaul.



“The most important thing today in a multi-variable world that’s full of change is figuring out what’s changing around you. How do I react in response to that?“


Mark Stouse, CEO of Proof Analytics



While there is importance in responding to market evolution, you must strike the right balance. Reacting for the sake of reacting rather than doing so at an appropriate timescale can cause you to over-correct your journey, meaning you’ll never see the full potential of your efforts. 


Mark recommends a more experimental approach when trends divert from your ideal path, making changes incrementally over jumping into the deep end. You’ll see much more success pivoting plans, calibrating effectiveness and forecasting results with analytics rather than changing strategies at the drop of a hat.



Misconceptions about marketing attribution


The biggest mistake business leaders make is assuming that you’ll see instant results with branding and marketing. This may be true in B2C retail, where there is a low purchase risk, immediate feedback loop and tight turnaround, but B2B requires more patience.


Both Mark and Aurelien point out that if you’re judging the success of your campaigns within the first quarter, you won’t be seeing their full potential. There is a significant time lag between data collection, analysis, and action in the world of B2B. Many CFOs and CEOs make the mistake of giving up on strategies before they’ve had time to have any effect.


Marketing attribution analytics allows businesses to optimize their marketing strategies using predictive data, pivoting them in the right direction as the market changes, as opposed to giving up on them entirely.


Another misconception about marketing attribution is that branding isn’t important, but rather marketers spending money for the sake of it. Branding is essential in building the trust needed to take a prospect from lead to client, building trust to speed up the process and limit the worry of risk. The more confidence you have from your customer, the more likely they are to spend more and the faster they will make a decision that benefits you.



“Demand is the machinery of marketing, but the lubrication that allows things to move more smoothly and faster is brand.”


Mark Stouse, CEO of Proof Analytics



Because of the amount of risk involved in the buyer’s journey, B2B sales comes with notoriously long sales cycles. No matter how great your product is, leads will idle away time weighing up if the risk is worth it if trust isn’t built. Investing in brand and marketing secures your place as a reputable business that delivers upon promises.




To hear this interview and many more like it, subscribe to B2B Revenue Acceleration on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, our website, or anywhere you get podcasts.

About Operatix

Operatix is a Sales Acceleration company specialized in supporting B2B Software vendors to identify new revenue streams, increase qualified sales pipeline, and accelerate channel development across Europe and North America. Operatix has a wealth of experience in working with the biggest tech players worldwide as well as a multitude of emerging software vendors.

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Channel Transformation

Digital transformation is changing how companies buy and use business solutions, making vendors re-assess the capabilities of their channel ecosystem. With channel dynamics in constant flux, vendors need to be ready to cut ties with partners that don’t share their vision or have connections with the right B2B buyers.

 

Operatix has supported numerous vendors in their path to Channel transformation by assessing current partners and recruiting new partners that are more aligned with their new channel strategy. Once the right partners have been identified, Operatix built scalable outbound sales development programs that accelerated their routes to market.

Inbound Response Management

In a competitive industry like technology every lead counts. Operatix can help you maximize conversion from MQL to SQL and from lead to pipeline, increasing both your revenue and ROI on marketing activities.

Account Identification

Identifying the accounts that are more likely to buy from you is part of our expertise. We will research the market, identify verticals and industries that can benefit from your solution and set up qualified sales engagements for your teams to kick-off the sales process. 

Cold Prospecting

Our team will identify new sales opportunities within the strategic accounts that you haven’t been successful in penetrating through your sales & marketing efforts. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, multitouch approach to connect with prospects, generating qualified sales engagements for your team and ultimately increasing your pipeline.

Outbound Sales Development

Using a proactive outbound sales approach has been proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage with prospective customers. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, human approach to getting in touch with prospects to increase your qualified sales engagements and ultimately generate more pipeline.

Outbound Sales Development

Using a proactive outbound sales approach has been proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage with prospective customers. By applying the ‘Challenger Sale’ methodology we use a tailored, human approach to getting in touch with prospects to increase your qualified sales engagements and ultimately generate more pipeline.

Partner Concierge Service

Our Partner Concierge Service helps vendors accelerate their channel programs, by engaging and nurturing channel partners and supporting them to get to revenue quicker.

Demand Generation

Whether you need to implement a demand generation strategy or get more results out of your existing demand gen engine, Operatix can work alongside your marketing team to yield better results out of your demand generation programs.

Account-based Marketing

An Account-based Marketing strategy is only as successful as the revenue it generates. At Operatix we will support your 1:1, 1:few or 1:many approach to get your team in front of decision makers in the accounts that matter the most to you. 

Lead Qualification

If your marketing leads aren’t converting, it might be a lead qualification issue. Operatix can help sieve through leads that need further qualification, so they are ready for an AE or sales team member to engage with.

Account-based Selling

At Operatix we will support your 1:1, 1:few or 1:many approach to get your team in front of decision makers in the accounts that matter the most to you. 

Pipeline Generation

Generating Pipeline for our clients is our key-objective. And we do that by using a multi-touch, multi-channel approach to generate qualified sales engagements for our customers’ sales teams.   

Account Intelligence / Deep Dive

Understanding buying centres, hierarchies and relevant personas in strategic accounts is a fundamental step to increase conversion rates. By leveraging account intelligence in a sales conversation your team can tailor their message and provide value to their prospective customer. But sales & marketing teams often struggle to dedicate time and resources to do the deep research and this is where Operatix can help.

DMID – Decision Maker Identification

Finding quality data is an on-going challenge for B2B Tech vendors. The accuracy of data platforms is questionable and that is why Operatix developed a manual process to identify & verify contact details for decision makers within strategic target accounts.

Playbook design

Operatix can develop Sales Playbooks that enable teams to sell more effectively. Your Playbook will be fundamental to get your messaging right, accurately position your solution against competitors, and adapt the communication of your value proposition to different buyer personas.

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Recorded Testimonial: Qualys

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Sales Playbook Development

Operatix can develop Sales Playbooks that enable teams to sell more effectively. Your Playbook will be fundamental to implementing the correct messaging, accurately position your solution against competitors, and adapting the communication of your value proposition to different buyer personas.

Lead Qualification

If your leads aren’t converting, it might be a lead qualification issue. Operatix can help filter through leads that need further qualification, ensuring that they’re ready for an AE or sales team member to engage with and progress through the funnel. 

Partner Portal / Marketing Concierge Service

Vendors often spend thousands of dollars building multifunctional Partner Portals to help channel partners educate their teams, manage opportunities, and create marketing programs. Still, these portals are often underutilized due to lack of bandwidth and capacity from vendors to offer support in enabling their partner community. Operatix, through their Partner Development team, can support your partners to make the best use out of your partner portal, managing the relationship with your partners and helping them set up co-marketing campaigns to drive more revenue for both businesses. 

Marketing & Sales Alignment

The sales development function is often seen as the “glue” that brings sales & marketing teams together. By working as an extension of your teams, Operatix will be your predictable source of pipeline, sales & revenue.

Optimization of MDF

Market Development Funds are an important component of any channel ecosystem, though vendors believe they are not maximizing the return on investment they should be getting from their MDF programs. At Operatix, we build scalable outbound sales development programs that will give you the visibility of return over the invested spend and will provide clear value for your channel partners.

Increase Partner Productivity

The 80/20 rule is still very applicable to the channel, which means that investing in partner productivity should be a priority for vendors looking to grow their businesses. Operatix can increase partner productivity and shorten sales cycles, by identifying ready to engage sales opportunities for your most valued channel partners.

Virtual Channel Account managers

Our VCAM team is responsible for building, maintaining, and managing sound relationships with current and prospective channel partners. They can get involved in opening up new sales conversations as well as closing small businesses up to $ 10k.

Tier 1 & Tier 2 Activation

Whether your business decided for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 distribution model, Operatix can help your channel partners get to revenue quicker. By providing qualified sales engagements to your channel partners we can accelerate your route to market with tangible and easily measurable results.

Solution Selling Training

Far too often vendors insist on enabling their channel partners to talk about features and technical details of their solutions. Customers don’t buy features; they buy the benefits your solution can bring. Operatix will work with your partner community to train them in articulating your message from a high-level business perspective, enabling them to talk to prospects about the value your solution can bring to their company from a board-level perspective.

Channel Enablement

Enabling your channel partners have measurable wins for your business when done right. Operatix has a proven track record in enabling channel partners from a sales & marketing perspective, providing them the knowledge and tools to successfully pitch your solution and sell the value & benefits of it. 

Partner Recruitment

Recruiting the right Channel Partners is the first step for a successful channel program. Operatix has helped over 350 B2B Software vendors recruit suitable channel partners across EMEA and North America, supporting them to scale and expand their presence in different geographies and verticals. 

Risk/Reward Business Model

To truly work as an extension of our client’s sales & marketing teams, we have also adapted our business models to show how our clients operate, and how their success is measured. With our risk/reward business model your investment is proportional to the results our team delivers.

Sales Qualified Leads

On average, 52.5% of the sales engagements set up by our team progress into a next step in the sale process. That means that 5 out of 10 meetings will progress either into a POC, a Demo or a pipeline opportunity.

Geographical Scale

Trading in different geographical markets not only requires a knowledge of the native language, local rules & policies, but a deeper understanding of the local culture and habits. We have the ability to deliver campaigns in multiple countries with flexible resource allocation. This is through our team of international speakers, who have the ability to sell in 17 different languages across the globe.

Increase Revenue & Decrease Cost

Building an internal sales development team comes with many additional costs and challenges that aren’t always taken into account: recruiting resources, training and enabling them etc. You also need to take into account the need for having the data and tools to make them successful, which in turn requires time, capital and effort. By outsourcing your sales development to Operatix you will see your revenue increasing, while decreasing costs and business risk.

Predictable Pipeline Generation

On average, our clients see a 26X ROI on the programs we deliver. By understanding your revenue targets and sales pipeline gap, we will work on a sales & marketing plan that will deliver tangible results.

Vertical Growth

Entering new industries or launching new product lines? Operatix can accelerate your growth by supporting your go-to-market strategy, and getting your sales teams in front of decision makers in key target accounts.

Reduce Headcount

By outsourcing your sales development and partner programs to Operatix; we reduce headcount and the challenges that come with managing people, technologies, and processes. We take care of your sales development, so you can focus on what matters the most: growing your business.

Revenue Acceleration

Operatix helps your business get to revenue quicker. By providing qualified sales engagements for your direct sales team (to kick-off new sales cycles), or by accelerating the growth of your channel partners, our focus remains on delivering tangible results for your business. 

Persona-based Selling

Operatix team will design specifically tailored messages to influence the different levels of decision makers in the sales process, tailoring the communication according to each job function. Our focus is to sell the value of your solution from a business perspective, not its features.    

Recorded Testimonial: Bitglass

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